The present invention relates generally to power supplies for a light emitting diode (LED) lighting system. More particularly, the present invention relates to providing an auxiliary power supply for an LED driver which minimizes power loss across an auxiliary power supply based on a configurable output voltage and voltage regulator input configuration.
LED lighting is growing in popularity due to decreasing costs and long life compared to incandescent lighting and fluorescent lighting. One major reason is that the lumen per watt of LED is getting higher and higher than fluorescent lamp. Another reason is that the super capability of dimming, which will not hurt LED life comparing to fluorescent lamp dimming.
LED drivers are often coupled to a dimming controller to control light output of an LED lighting system to reduce energy usage and associated costs. In some cases, an external lighting controller requires power supplied from an LED driver to function. However, large power loss can occur when there is a large difference between an input voltage of an auxiliary power supply and the output voltage of the auxiliary power supply, or where a voltage drop across the linear regulator of the auxiliary power supply is large. As such, traditional linear regulators might not be able to be used for an auxiliary power supply, thereby increasing overall costs and reducing operating times associated with an LED driver.